A NEIGHBOUR has spoken of how her daughter fell from a window just yards from where a child survived a fall of about 30ft.

Zoe Smith told how two-year-old Ella managed to clamber out of her ground floor flat in almost identical circumstances to an accident which left a girl in hospital.

Yesterday, the Daily Echo told how a mother had rushed screaming from her flat after her three-year-old daughter, named locally as Jasmine, fell from a second storey apartment window.

The youngster was taken to hospital, but was released 24 hours later with only minor scratches despite the 30ft drop.

It is thought she escaped serious injuries because she fell into bushes.

Last night workmen employed by Testway Housing, which owns St George's Court in North Baddesley, were fitting new safety devices to the flat's windows to make them childproof and harder to open.

The child's mum, who has not been named, said her daughter was fine though a bit shaken up and asked to be left alone.

However, neighbours told how the girl had been incredibly lucky to escape.

Zoe, who lives in St Boniface Court opposite the accident site, said: "I think Jasmine had been playing with a skipping rope when she fell.

"She had just got back from a ballet lesson and was still in her ballet outfit, and when the emergency services had to cut it off to check her out, she was so upset.

"It's shocking that this happened, but I have to say I'm not surprised.

"Ella managed to open the window in my front room after I went into the kitchen to get her a drink, and by the time I got back just seconds later she had already clambered out, though fortunately we live on the ground floor."

"It was a miracle Jasmine wasn't badly hurt.

"She's a lovely little girl and very vivacious. Hopefully this will act as a shock to the housing authority to get these windows fixed. We've now taken the handles off ours so it can't happen again."

A spokesman for Testway Housing, said: "We don't want children to fall out of windows, but we have to have a look at the problems first before we can fix them.

"In some cases simple restrictors will work, but in others the entire window might need changing. Either way it can't be done immediately.

"However, our workmen did visit the flat last night and have made alterations to the family's windows to make them safe."

She added that Testway would now be looking at improving safety for all their properties, starting with those where young children are living.